President Obama became the first sitting president to vote early when he stopped by his hometown of Chicago on Thursday to cast his ballot 12 days before election day.
While this milestone may not make the history books, it showed was an opportunity for Obama to lead by example, urging voters to go to the polls early as well, reports The New York Times .
The Obama campaign is hoping for early voting to be a bulwark against Mitt Romney, arguing that the incumbent president is leading among those who have already voted. After using the touch screen voting station at the Martin Luther King Community Center near his home in Kentwood, Obama stated:
“For all of you who have not yet early voted, I just want everybody to see what an incredibly efficient process this was thanks to the outstanding folks who are at this particular polling place.”
ABC News notes that Obama looked visibly tired from his extensive campaigning schedule, but he still spoke with election workers as he filled out paperwork to vote.
Obama also had his ID examined by a woman to make sure that it was his — a move that the president appeared to find amusing. He commented:
“Now ignore the fact that there’s no gray hair on that picture. I’m just clad I renewed my driver’s license.”
After voting, President Obama also did a quick sales pitch for voting early, commenting:
“… all across the country we’re seeing a lot of early voting. It means you don’t have to figure out whether you need to take time off work, figure out how to pick up the kids and still cast a ballot. If something happens on Election Day, you will have already taken care of it. If it’s bad weather you won’t get wet. Ir in Chicago, snowy. But this was really convenient.”
The president also joked, saying, “I can’t tell you who I voted for.”
Have you taken advantage of early voting, or are you waiting until Election Day to cast your ballot?
